Ewe Tree

After being flattened by what can only be called 'the first lurgy of winter', I finally got  round to finishing off a small artwork I began several weeks ago, 'Ewe Tree'. As you can see, it was inspired by one of my recent needle felted landscapes 'Shepherd's Cottage'. I recorded the initial stages on my Instagram account - this not only shares my work process with my followers, but also helps my flagging confidence when I get to the horrid mid-way stage.

 

I love layering barely tinted washes. They are left to dry naturally (no hair dryer short cuts). I keep an eye on each wash as it dries out, until I am sure I can safely leave it to finish off overnight, with no unintentional blotches. Then I put down the punchier colour work.

But to return to the horrid mid-way stage. This is when all the colour work is done and the whole thing has an fuzzy, unfinished look. Time to tighten it up with some minimal pencil work, which pulls the whole thing together. There is a trick to knowing when to stop, so that the lovely granulation and natural paint patterns can work their visual magic.

This piece was specifically designed for the round window mount that it comes with, but I have left the surrounding 'bleed' that you can see in the above picture, for alternative mounting. 'Ewe Tree' is, as I write, available for sale in the artworks section of my Etsy shop.   

Having achieved my first finished artwork of the year, I ordered some professionally printed Giclée art prints on lovely Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl 320gsm paper, as I know that not everyone can stretch to buying an original artwork. They are available with mounts in the prints section of my shop, with free UK shipping.

The prints are also presented in the same sized mount, but being slightly larger, the aperture size is bigger. Again, I have left the surrounding area underneath intact, as I am sure that not everyone is as obsessed with circular art as I am and may have their own idea about how they would like to view it. 

If they go well, I will be delving into my archives to have other artwork made into prints. And of course, picking up my paintbrushes again.

Cotswold workshop

This is my lastest  workshop, held at the Winds of Change Gallery in Winchcombe. The challenge was to make a sheep from British wool - as it was part of the wool festival celebrating our native sheep. I brought in a selection of dyed Blue-Faced Leicester and natural Welsh tops, and a lot of Cotswold Lion fleece. Far more than we needed in the end.

 I'd already made my own sheep from this, with much mild cursing as it is really too long and rough to make a satisfactory model. Some brave people used it, but the Blue Faced Leicester was by far the favourite, being softer and more manageable.

As well as a picnic lunch, there were scones, cream and jam halfway through the afternoon; note the plaster and first aid kit, for the unfortunates who stabbed themselves. It was all good fun though, and I think every one had a nice time.

My lovely workshop ladies, including a beaming Jane, the gallery owner and lovely Lady Ashcombe, of nearby Sudeley Castle, stood nearest to the door, who was kind enough to give up some of her time to judge the sheep contest. 

Yet again I felt so proud to see the variety and accomplishment of people who'd done little or no needle felting before this day. But, there was only one prize for one winner. I was having nothing to do with it, I hate picking winners! Or rather, I hate that there are losers, especially when everyone tried so hard.

 

 There was however, one obvious winner and Lady Ashcombe picked exactly the one that I would have. The prize was a family ticket for Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park, only a few miles away - a very generous donation from the farm, and one which deserves a little reward.

So I'm sending him the model for the workshop, now called 'Adam's Sheep' - after his slot on the BBC Countryfile programme, called 'Adam's Farm'. Adam rears many rare native breeds himself, including the 'Cotswold Lion', which my sheep is loosely based on and who's wool I used. 

After many dreadful weeks of not-knowing about things, we've finally had news that we can get going. So we are. I may not be around much as I have an awful lots of things to pack. We move at the end of the month - and we don't even know precisely where yet!